Breast cancer treatment in Turkey

Many men experience hair thinning with age. Most of them note the first changes in hair density after 35 years. After the age of 50 years, 85% of men develop bald spots and bald patches, which are noticeable not only to themselves, but also to those around them. Today, this problem can be successfully solved. In just 1 day, a hair transplant surgery will allow you to return the magnificent hair, look young and attractive.

How is hair transplanted? 

The Hair Transplant Clinics usually do this in one of two ways: 

• manually;
• using a robotic system.

In any case, the essence of the procedure is based on the fact that your own hair is taken where there is a lot of it, and transplanted where there is little hair. The back of the head and the side surfaces of the head are usually used as the donor sites. The follicles in these areas have good blood supply, so the hair does not fall out until very old age. They will be just as strong as in a new place. In these areas of the head, the follicles are less susceptible to the effects of male hormones, and therefore the patient will receive long-term results after a hair transplant.

If there is not enough hair on the head, there are other areas where they can be taken. In men, hair can also be taken from the chest or chin.

A hair transplant procedure can cure any alopecia. It is mostly used for androgenetic alopecia, but some patients with cicatricial alopecia can seek medical help when the hair stops growing only in certain areas of the scalp (for example, after an injury).

Follicular Units Extraction

The FUE hair transplant procedure is carried out in two stages. First, the doctor removes the grafts from the donor site, and then implants them into the scalp affected by alopecia.

A graft is a patch with several hair follicles. They can be from 1 to 4. More than 50% of the grafts on the human head contain 2 hair follicles. 4 or more hair follicles are rare: no more than 3-4% of the total.

The procedure begins with a haircut. The next step is skin anesthetization with a local anesthetic. The grafts are removed from the donor site one at a time. After that, they are inserted into the scalp at different angles using the Implanter Pen tool. To this end, the implants of different diameters (several tens of forms) are used, since different grafts have different sizes and differ in quality.

The doctor tries to implant more small grafts on the hairline: with one hair. The grafts with 2-4 hair follicles are placed in the depths of the scalp. The FUE technique provides a hair density of 100-150 per square centimeter. These are approximately 60 grafts. Such a concentration is enough to make a person's hair look thick as in youth.

The duration of the procedure may vary significantly from patient to patient. It depends on the amount of transplanted hair. On average, 4 thousand grafts are transplanted. With a manual procedure, this takes no more than 8 hours. Sometimes a large amount of hair is required. In this case, the treatment may continue for 2 days. Most patients need 6-12 hours to receive good hair density.

Robot-assisted hair transplant 

Many Turkish hospitals perform hair transplants using the ARTAS robotic system. The method is generally based on the same mechanisms, but it has many advantages:

1. Lower loss of viable hair. When extracting grafts using the manual technique, the loss reaches 20%. In the case of using ARTAS, it is reduced to 8%. 
2. High accuracy both during extraction and subsequent implantation of grafts into the scalp. 
3. The procedure lasts much less time. Given the fact that the transplant lasts several hours, this is important for the patient. The use of ARTAS reduces the time spent on the hair transplant by 30-50%.   
4. The computer calculates the number of follicles that need to be extracted. This eliminates situations, in which the donor site is excessively thinned.  
5. The human factor is excluded. A hair transplant is performed by a robotic system that never gets tired and makes any mistakes.   

After treatment 

A hair transplant in Turkey takes only 1-2 days. In the vast majority of cases, doctors cope in 1 day. Hospitalization is not required. The procedure involves damage to the scalp, but the injuries inflicted are targeted. There are no extensive wound surfaces. The patient can take care of his skin on his own, at home. To do this, he will use the drugs that the doctor prescribes.

The wounds heal after 5 days. A complete healing with no visible scars takes up to 2 weeks. After this time, the scalp returns to the same condition as before treatment. About 2-3% of the transplanted hair falls out during this time. The remaining 97-98% of the grafts successfully survive. Gradually, the hair grows back. After a few months, when the hair length increases, a person can fully evaluate the results of alopecia treatment.

The patients are often interested in how long the results last? Will the hair fall out again?

After a hair transplant in Turkey, hair will not fall out. The fact is that the material for transplantation is taken from those parts of the head where the person has follicles insensitive to the effects of male hormones. The hair in this zone does not fall out even in very old people. The follicles remain stable after their transplantation.

The problem is that many men have old hair on their heads, namely those that have not yet had time to fall out, but have already thinned due to poor blood supply to the follicles. With the continued development of alopecia, the hair will thin further. But once again, it is not transplanted hair that falls out. The transplants perfectly survive and remain throughout life.

To slow down the loss of remaining hair, the doctor may prescribe special medications for the man. They are usually applied topically for treating scalp. In a few years, it will be possible to resort to a second hair transplant in Turkey, if necessary. The donor site can be not only the scalp, but also the chest and chin. Most men do not have any problems with body hair. It is always possible to find areas where hair can be taken in sufficient quantities.

Benefits of hair transplant in Turkey 

There are many hospitals that deal with hair transplant worldwide. Nevertheless, thousands of patients annually come to Turkey to perform this procedure. What is the reason for this? The hair transplant in Turkey has many benefits: 

Equipment. Turkey has a well-developed aesthetic medicine industry. Most Hair Transplant Clinics in the country are equipped with ARTAS robotic systems. They can transplant hair faster and more accurately.

Comfort. The patient feels both physical and psychological comfort. During hair transplant, the doctors perform an adequate scalp anesthesia. This makes the procedure completely painless.

Experience. The hair transplant in Turkey is literally a mass procedure. Over 100 thousand such procedures are performed here annually. The doctors have extensive experience in hair transplant, so they achieve excellent results.

High engraftment. The performance of the procedure in Turkey using the ARTAS system allows to achieve a high percentage of survival of hair follicles. Only 2-3% of hair falls out in the first weeks after transplantation, but the rest remain for life. This was made possible thanks to a special transplantation technique: the specialists in Turkey use PRP (platelet rich plasma) therapy to enhance regenerative processes and better graft survival. The hair follicles extracted from the head are stored in a cooled solution with blood plasma.

Prices. The cost of hair transplant in Turkey is much lower than in most developed countries of the world. The prices may vary by 2-3 times.

How to go to Turkey? 

You can go to Turkey to undergo the hair transplant. The country offers well-developed aesthetic medicine industry, so there are many good hospitals offering such services. The Booking Health company will organize your trip to Turkey. We offer the following services and advantages:

• Selection of the best hospital in Turkey, which specializes in hair transplant and achieves outstanding results in this medical field.
• Prices will be lower than usual for you. 
• You will have the opportunity to choose the most suitable dates for you to visit Turkey.
• Preparation of the program and its monitoring. 
• Communication with the hospital after hair transplant.
• Organization of additional diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. 

Booking Health will provide high-quality services: we will book a hotel and airline tickets for you, arrange a transfer from the airport to the hospital.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. If the patient is treated by experienced doctors in a good hospital, it can be completely cured at the stages 1, 2 and even 3. To undergo breast cancer treatment, you can go to Turkey. This country has many top-class Cancer Centers.

How is breast cancer treated?

Only surgical treatment of breast cancer can completely get rid of this disease. The possibility of surgery depends on the stage at which the pathology is detected, and the aggressiveness of the tumor (histological and molecular type). The treatment is planned according to the type of cancer. There are three types of cancer:

• primary resectable – one that can be resected;
• locally advanced – as a rule, it is primarily unresectable, but the operation can be performed after conservative treatment;
• metastatic or recurrent breast cancer – radical surgical treatment cannot be performed.

Systemic treatment is mainly provided at the advanced stages. This includes hormone therapy, targeted therapy, chemotherapy.

Stage 0

The surgeons perform lumpectomy or sectoral resection – organ-preserving operations on the breast. The resection margin is examined. Should cancer cells be detected, the extent of surgery will be expanded. The intervention can be performed simultaneously on another breast in order to achieve symmetry.

Some patients can be prescribed radiation therapy. Its necessity is determined based on the individual risk of cancer progression. The irradiation begins 1-3 months after surgery, but not earlier than the wound heals completely.

As a rule, hormone therapy is not applied. For some patients, it can be prescribed in the case of positive tumor resection margin.

Stage 1

Breast cancer is mostly treated by means of organ-preserving surgery. Sometimes the breast can be totally removed. The axillary lymph nodes are removed according to indications.

A mastectomy can be followed by breast reconstruction using implants. Sometimes these procedures can be performed simultaneously.

The organ-preserving operations are always followed by radiation therapy. After mastectomy, it can be prescribed only if positive resection margin is detected, or the tumor cells are located less than 1 mm from the margin. The irradiation begins within 1-3 months and is carried out 5 days a week.

Some patients can be prescribed a course of chemotherapy after surgery, but it is not a common method. In this case, the irradiation can be carried out 3-4 weeks upon the completion of administration of drugs.

Stage 2

The radical treatment of breast cancer involves its partial or total removal. The surgical removal of the axillary lymph nodes can be additionally required.

The partial breast removal is always followed by the irradiation. In the case of total breast removal – only in certain cases:

• detection of cancer cells in the distant lymph nodes;
• positive resection margin;
• size of primary tumor is more than 5 cm in diameter.

The radiation therapy can be combined with hormone and targeted therapy, which can be used for some molecular types of breast cancer. However, it is usually not combined with chemotherapy. If chemotherapeutic agents are required, the irradiation will be carried out 3-4 weeks upon the completion of the course. This approach reduces the risk of complications of cancer treatment.

The treatment of stage 2 often involves the use of adjuvant drug therapy. It reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence and reduces mortality from this disease. The treatment regimen depends on the molecular and biological subtype of breast cancer (the presence of hormone receptors, HER2 positive or negative cancer).

If several drugs of different groups are used simultaneously, then chemotherapy is usually carried out at first. The targeted and hormonal therapy can be carried out only after its completion.

Stage 3

Most patients with stage 3 breast cancer cannot be operated without preliminary measures. These tumors are primarily unresectable. They can become operable after the drug treatment of cancer.

The therapy prescribed before surgery is called neoadjuvant. It allows the doctor to achieve the following results:

• reduce the tumor, make the cancer resectable;
• detect a group of patients with a favorable prognosis for planning further therapeutic tactics.

In some patients, conservative treatment of breast cancer can be very effective: it can achieve a significant reduction and even complete dispersion of the tumor. In this case, the operation will be performed in a smaller extent, which will provide a better aesthetic effect and a lower risk of complications.

If all the planned courses of drug treatment for cancer are completed before surgery, then additional chemotherapy will not be required after breast removal. After mastectomy, only hormonal or targeted treatment can be prescribed, if indicated. If the surgical removal of cancer was performed before the completion of chemotherapy course, then the patient will receive remaining treatment upon the operation completion.

Stage 4

The radical treatment is not possible. In the case of development of distant metastases, palliative topical treatment will become an option of choice, as well as systemic therapy, which aims to slow down tumor growth.

Treatment of breast cancer in Turkey

The patients with cancer often visit Turkish hospitals to undergo treatment of breast cancer. Turkish oncologists provide treatment not only for locals, but also for citizens of foreign countries.

Turkey has well-developed medical tourism. Hundreds of thousands of patients come here annually in order to improve their health. About 40% of foreign citizens visit Turkish hospitals for cancer treatment. Oncology is well developed here. In Turkey, the doctors achieve huge success in the treatment of breast cancer at all stages.

The following treatment measure can be carried out here:

• cancer surgeries, allowing not only to cure cancer, but also to maintain the attractiveness of the breast;
• genetic testing to determine molecular and biological subtype of the tumor and selection of the optimal treatment;
• comprehensive therapy using surgical methods, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and targeted therapy;
• modern methods of irradiation – 3D conformal radiation therapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy.

The treatment in Turkey is not only effective, but also safe. Turkish hospitals specializing in cancer treatment apply various measures to reduce side effects due to systemic cancer treatment. These include:

• drugs are used for the elimination of side effects;
• chemotherapy agents are prescribed in turn, but not simultaneously;
• hormone, radiation, targeted therapy is not used simultaneously with chemotherapy, but is prescribed only upon the course completion;
• examination of patients, taking into account their age and somatic status (if necessary, drug doses can be reduced).

To undergo treatment in Turkey, you can use the services of the Booking Health company. We are engaged in medical tourism and organize treatment for patients from different countries in the best hospitals in the world. When booking treatment in Turkish hospitals via Booking Health, you will receive many benefits:

• Selection of the best hospital specializing in the treatment of breast cancer and demonstrating the best results in this field of oncology.
• Reduced cost of medical services for foreign patients with cancer.
• Preparation of the program and its monitoring.
• Communication with the doctor.
• Control of invoices, return of unspent funds.
• Buying and forwarding of medicines.
• Organization of additional examination or treatment in Turkey.
• Communication with the hospital upon the program completion.

The employees of the Booking Health company will fully organize your trip to Turkey, and all you have to do is focus on your health. We will book a hotel and airline tickets for you, ensure a transfer from the airport to the hospital and back.